


Two Worlds So Close Yet So Far

by gooddadstan



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Red Robin (Comics)
Genre: Fluff I guess, Gen, No editing we die like mne, Photography, tim gets to be calm, vague flower symbolism, vague mentions of self harm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-31
Updated: 2019-08-31
Packaged: 2020-10-03 20:55:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20459324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gooddadstan/pseuds/gooddadstan
Summary: Tim gets to have a quiet evening to himself for once. He gets to be happy.





	Two Worlds So Close Yet So Far

It’d been a while since Tim had seen a landscape quite this green. He’d managed to get out here a bit more than occasionally, yeah, back before he was Robin or Red Robin or even associated with the Bats at all other than being a kid with a camera in the streets. He supposes there wasn’t much different about him now, alone with his camera staring at the sky, standing in a sweater large enough to hide his hands in the sleeves, a sense of peace. He missed this, the times like these where he could just stand and breathe by himself in air cleaner than Gotham’s ever was. They were always so different in feeling than his life in Drake Manor.

A crisp wind danced around him, tickling his fingertips and face as it lures him back to reality. Not abrasive, not harsh, just kind and laughing as it moves on its way. 

He takes one large inhale, holding it for a bit before letting it out slowly. This field was always empty, despite not being all to far from Gotham proper, and it showed hm a simple safety he hadn’t even felt in his own house. Crouching down to look closer at the grass, he watches a ladybug, small and delicate, meander along a blade of grass and softly flit to another. A dragonfly, a shimmering green that Tim doesn’t think he’s seen before zips from the corner of his eye across his view, and for several long moments he lets himself appreciate their harmony. He always did this, back then and now today, giving himself time to appreciate everything around him before putting the camera between his sweater sleeves to use. 

Just as slowly as he crouched down, he stands, and sets his camera down gently against his chest as he lets the strap around his neck take the weight, raising his arms to the sky and moving to stand on the tips of his toes as he stretches up high and quirking a smile at the feeling of the end of the sweater brushing against his stomach. He slides his arms down in one fluid motion, and reaches for his toes while avoiding squishing the camera now dangling by his elbows. It’s easier than it was last time, far easier, and it’s that gentle reminder that a lot of time has passed between the last time he was here and now that brings him back to his feet with a straight back and arms loose by his sides. He still needed to patrol after sunset, but for now he could enjoy the afternoon sun and take come pictures. 

The photos he took in the unnamed field outside Gotham weren’t always the same. Once or twice he’d brought a friend over, or gathered some sticks and tried to get a good shot based on that, but he’d always preferred candids over poses for people, and the sticks he’d used never came out quite right. So instead he took sweeping landscape shots, closeups on the petals of flowers or on the bugs hidden in the grass, finding the angles he was happiest with until he had just as many pictures of the calm nature here as he did blurry shots of vigilantes in the Gotham nights.

He’d spent nights in this field, too, once upon a time. After Batman or Robin had been significantly injured the night before, Tim could be found here, staring up at the sky until his neck hurt and taking picture after picture of the stars, the moon, and all the planets. It was all so _stunning_, and it took his breath away time and time again. He would lay down on the ground and trace the constellations with his finger, naming them out loud as the mosquitoes bit at his skin, but he didn’t care.

This field, the calm, the stars and the sun above, it all helped him. When he was here, the sting on his forearms faded away. When he was here, the crime in Gotham didn’t have to exist for him. When he was here, he could pretend he was going to return to a house with parents, maybe a sibling or two. When he was here everything was okay, or better than okay, and he could truly be _happy._

So with a smile that if not for the soft, melted look of appreciation in Tim’s eyes would be described as a grin, he adjusts the brand new macro lense on his camera to make sure it’s tight, and sweeps his landscape once more before focusing in on a patch of blue lilacs that hadn’t been here last time. Taking photo after photo, adjusting the angle ever so slightly between each shot and maintaining the unknown smile on his face, the afternoon turned to evening, and gradually the lights from Gotham proper bled over into the very edge of the field. As Tim turns to look at the horizon spanning in front of him, his smile melted softer even as it grew.

Switching his macro lense with a slightly older landscape lense from the bag slung across his back, he takes three steps back, then two more, as he brings the camera to his eye and fiddles with the settings to get the shot he wanted. And when he finally gets the picture right, he pulls the camera from his face and stares at the screen displaying his image. A landscape view half filled with the bustling vibes Gotham City, half with the calming nature of the field, with a sunset off to the field’s half of the photo balancing the urban lights of Gotham and painting the clouds and sky a set of pinks and oranges settling kindly between the blacks and grays of Gotham and the greens and browns of the field. He figures there’s probably some kind of metaphor you could draw to his life in there, now that he really looks at it just to look at it, but he’s proud of it. Setting the camera away in his bag, he takes one last sweeping spin in the field, letting out a small laugh as his smile remains.

As he returns to Gotham, ready for a long night and inevitable fights, his smile doesn’t fade. The stinging in his wrists stayed away for another night, his family managed to get through a night working together as a team, flowing and twisting to cover each other and give each other openings to end the fight quickly. Tonight he was happy. Maybe he should go out to that field more often.

**Author's Note:**

> Blue Lilacs symbolize tranquility and happiness, so you don’t have to look it up yourself <3
> 
> Thank you for reading, I finished a short little soft Tim and didn’t hate it so here you go! <3 <3 <3


End file.
